Hang On To Me
by Imjustafan
Summary: CSI-Miami Calleigh is upset. Horatio wants to help her.


Title: Hang on to me

Author: NikiMeg

Disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me. I own nothing. I wish, but I don't. 

Rating: PG

Author's note: Thanks to Marianne for beta-ing for me; you helped me so much. I took the title from an Without a Trace episode. Hope you enjoy!

Pairing: Calleigh/Horatio Relationship ; Calleigh/Eric Friendship

Summary: Calleigh is upset. Horatio wants to help her.

Calleigh seemed to be exhausted; her life was going to work, waiting for a phone call from some bar, asking her to pick up her father. That is exactly what she always did. 

She stopped what she was doing, without giving explanations to her colleagues, going to look for her father. After a very strong coffee, he promised that would be the last time he would drink. They were just words. Words that she knew by heart. 

Right now, she was comparing the grooves of a bullet and waiting for a phone call so she could execute her fate, her destiny since her father had come to live in Miami.

"..........three years ago."

Her mind was clouded. She did not notice that Eric had entered the lab, speaking, standing next to her, telling her he had discovered a clue about the case that they were investigating together. 

"Calleigh, are you ok?" He asked, noticing Calleigh seemed to be in some kind of trance. 

"I'm sorry, Eric. You were saying?"

"I said that gun is the same used in a crime three years ago."

"Uh-Oh... we have a suspect."

"Horatio is going to speak to him. Are you really ok?"

She didn't want to worry him, after all it was not his business. 

Calleigh looked into his eyes, placing her hands on his waist, and she said affectionately, "I'm ok. You have nothing to worry about. I'm fine."

He wasn't sure about that, however he didn't want to insist. Still, he wanted to help her with what was happening in her life. He was her friend. For that reason, he knew that when she wanted to speak, she would do so. 

He placed his hands over hers, leaned close.

"Ok, Calleigh. I believe you," he said, smiling.

He left the room, leaving her with her thoughts.

She looked back at the bullet in the microscope. She was almost forgetting about her father when her cell phone rang.

"Calleigh, speaking." She put her head in her hands. "I'm going. Thank you."

As soon as she turned off the phone, she left the room. Before she got in the elevator, she remembered Horatio was waiting for her ballistics report.

She went back to the lab, retrieved the report and went in the direction of Horatio's office, hoping he was not there. Thus, she would leave it on his desk without giving explanations about why she had to leave immediately. 

Unhappily, when she opened the door of his office he was seated in his chair, finishing some paperwork. 

She knocked before entering. 

"Hi, come in," he signaled to her.

"Here is the report."

"Thank you."

She stood in front of his desk.

"Anything else?"

"I have to do something. I wonder if I could leave to do an errand."

He nodded. He didn't ask what she had to do. 

"Good luck with what you have to do," he said as she left. 

She just smiled, without saying a word.

As usual, she went to the bar, carried her father outside, placed him in her car.

Then, she drove to her house. There the routine continued. After he sobered up, and promised not to drink anymore, he left.

She sat down on the couch, propping her head against its back. 

Calleigh wanted to cry, however, no tears slipped from her eyes. She was crying inside.

She lingered there, seated on the couch until she fell asleep. She was tired of everything, her father, and her life. 

The doorbell rang, waking her up. She rose quickly from the couch.

Opening the door she saw the last person that she expected to see but the best person to visit her at the moment. 

"Horatio? Why are you here?"

"I was in the neighborhood. How are you?"

"Okay. I guess" 

"May I come in?" he asked.

She let him enter then closed the door, watching him walk into her apartment.

"What's wrong, Calleigh?" he asked gently. 

"Nothing major.....girls' things." 

"Let me help you."

"It's not a big deal." By now, she wanted to tell him everything, about her father's condition, her condition, picking him up in bars all over Miami. But she couldn't. Not now. 

"This isn't the report I needed" he said, giving her the report she had delivered earlier that day.

Even in work, her father was interfering. She was good at her job, she had never made mistakes like this before.

He looked at her, into her eyes, then walked toward the front door and opened it. She called his name.

"Horatio, it's my father. He has problems...with alcohol. He's always in trouble and I have to pick up him, in the bars." 

She was a little embarrassed, after all he was her boss. Besides he had his own problems with family. She didn't want to be a burden. 

"I'm sorry, Horatio. You have nothing to do with my family problems. I shouldn't say anything."

"I'm glad you trusted me."

He approached her, wrapping his arms around her in a warm, tight hug. He placed a hand behind her head and the other against her back, as if he wanted to protect her from everything that was going wrong. 

She cried in silence on his chest. She felt comfortable, loved like she had not been loved in a very long time.

"I'll always be there for you, sweetheart." His voice was sweet, kind.

She cried once more, this time letting him see the tears slipping from her eyes. He lifted her head with a gentle touch, looking straight into her eyes. 

"You don't deserve what's happening to you," he said, then kissed her cheek. 

"Horatio, I..."

He cut her off. 

"Let me speak, first." He kissed her forehead. "I'm having thoughts about you. I don't want to interfere with your life, I just want to let you know I'm here. Not just as a friend, but as a person who cares for you very much."

"Hug me. That will balance out all the bad things that are happening in my life."

He hugged her affectionately, saying, "My pleasure, Calleigh. My pleasure." 

The End 


End file.
